Page 12 of Cimmerian

Alpha Dean took one look at Merrick’s arm and nodded briskly. “Follow me.”

The sounds of Beau shifting behind me followed us as we walked the maze of the pack hall. Alpha Dean led us into a part of the building I had never seen before, and into a small room set up with a hospital bed. I brought Merrick over to the bed, looking around the room.

“It’s for emergencies,” Jasper murmured. “If we can, we go to the hospital where we took Beau. The one with our nurses. But sometimes there’s just not enough time.”

“I’ll go get someone to fix him up, and then I expect to see the two of you in my office immediately.” The Alpha’s stern glare left no room for arguments. He left the room, just as Beau walked in, fully clothed and handing Jasper some clothes as well.

“Figured you wouldn’t want to go into your meeting with the Alpha completely naked,” he said with a grin.

Jasper shrugged and got dressed. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Merrick had his eyes closed and was breathing heavily. He would be okay, but I didn’t envy the healing for him. It was going to hurt like a bitch. A small woman I had never seen before hurried into the room, smiling at us. Jasper pulled me out the door. “Mary will fix up his arm, and Beau can stay with him. Come on. We should go see the Alpha.”

Beau nodded, so I gave one last look to Merrick lying limply on the bed and let Jasper steer me toward the Alpha’s office. We were in trouble, that much was obvious. How much was another question.

“Let me take the blame, okay?” Jasper whispered, squeezing my hand.

I shook my head, frowning. “Absolutely not. This was my idea.”

“I don’t care. I can handle the heat. You don’t need to worry about it.”

I pressed my lips together, not bothering to fight a useless battle. I wasn’t going to let him take the fall for my decisions, but I’d wait until we were in front of the Alpha when he wouldn’t dare disagree with me. We walked into the open office door, hand in hand. Jasper took a seat immediately, but I remained standing.

Alpha Dean gave me a look. “Take a seat, Ava. Please.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I would, but I’m still a little wet.” I gestured toward my still sodden clothes.

He waved a hand. “There have been worse things on my chairs.”

I sat down with a grimace. Now I wasn’t sure I wanted to be sitting somewhere “worse things” had been. Jasper looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I heard his laugh echo down our bond.

“Asshole,” I thought.

He didn’t get a chance to respond, because Alpha Dean began to speak. “So you found Monica? Seeing as she isn’t with you, what the hell happened?”

Jasper hesitated. “She eluded us again. We almost had her, but she shattered Merrick’s arm.”

Alpha Dean frowned. “How did she have that kind of strength?” He stopped, looking at me. “No offense, Ava. Venators are quite strong, but I wouldn’t think she should be able to shatter a wolf’s bone.”

“There’s… there’s more, sir.” Jasper paused, as if unsure how to explain what we had seen in the forest.

I jumped in before he could speak. “Monica appeared to summon a storm.”

“She… what?” Alpha Dean furrowed his brows, trying to work out what I had just said. “Are you certain?”

“It was basically a hurricane in the forest, sir. Once we left the contaminated area, there was no sign of a storm in sight. And it got worse the more agitated she got,” I added, thinking about the way the rain had poured as Monica screamed.

“Okay. Okay. Well this is a development I wasn’t expecting.” The Alpha steepled his fingers, leaning back in his chair. “But what were you doing that far out in the forest in the first place?”

I took a deep breath in, wanting to explain everything before Jasper could take the fall for me. “It’s my fault, sir. I thought I had a good lead on Monica, and asked Jasper to come with me. We have reason to believe she’s working with a demon. Orcus, I believe is its name.” Jasper hissed through his teeth, and the Alpha frowned at me. I threw my hands up in self-defense. “I know, I know. Don’t say the name.”

“What is your evidence? And why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?” The Alpha did not sound impressed. Whoops.

“Well you see, sir --” Jasper began, but I cut him off.

“Lucy showed up at the Chicago pack party the other day. She wasn’t herself. She spoke to me about debts my mother had that needed to be paid.” I paused, biting my lip. I shook my hair out of my face, straightening my shoulders. I could do this. I was doing this for the right reasons. “As for why I haven’t informed you yet. That’s because it was my family’s debt, and it was up to me to handle it. I wasn’t going to drag the entire pack into my family’s problems once more. I made a decision, and I will accept full blame and responsibility for that decision.”

Jasper sighed, but the Alpha looked at me with something undefinable in his expression. When he spoke, it wasn’t what I was expecting to hear. “Ava. I understand you didn’t want to bring more trouble into the pack, but when you mated with Jasper, you became a part of this pack as well. This is your family, possibly more so than your own parents. I thought you understood that.”

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